The prevalence of visual hallucinations in non-affective psychosis, and the role of perception and attention

M. M. Van Ommen, M. Van Beilen, F. W. Cornelissen, H. G O M Smid, H. Knegtering, A. Aleman, T. Van Laar, R. Bruggeman*, W. Cahn, L. De Haan, R. S. Kahn, C. J. Meijer, I. Myin-Germeys, J. Van Os, D. Wiersma

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background Little is known about visual hallucinations (VH) in psychosis. We investigated the prevalence and the role of bottom-up and top-down processing in VH. The prevailing view is that VH are probably related to altered top-down processing, rather than to distorted bottom-up processing. Conversely, VH in Parkinson's disease are associated with impaired visual perception and attention, as proposed by the Perception and Attention Deficit (PAD) model. Auditory hallucinations (AH) in psychosis, however, are thought to be related to increased attention. Method Our retrospective database study included 1119 patients with non-affective psychosis and 586 controls. The Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences established the VH rate. Scores on visual perception tests [Degraded Facial Affect Recognition (DFAR), Benton Facial Recognition Task] and attention tests [Response Set-shifting Task, Continuous Performance Test-HQ (CPT-HQ)] were compared between 75 VH patients, 706 non-VH patients and 485 non-VH controls. Results The lifetime VH rate was 37%. The patient groups performed similarly on cognitive tasks; both groups showed worse perception (DFAR) than controls. Non-VH patients showed worse attention (CPT-HQ) than controls, whereas VH patients did not perform differently. Conclusions We did not find significant VH-related impairments in bottom-up processing or direct top-down alterations. However, the results suggest a relatively spared attentional performance in VH patients, whereas face perception and processing speed were equally impaired in both patient groups relative to controls. This would match better with the increased attention hypothesis than with the PAD model. Our finding that VH frequently co-occur with AH may support an increased attention-induced 'hallucination proneness'.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1735-1747
Number of pages13
JournalPsychological Medicine
Volume46
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2016

Keywords

  • Cognition
  • PAD model
  • prevalence
  • psychotic disorders
  • visual hallucinations

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